So you've done a few rounds of Extinction. You've played with good teams that handle their business and pounded a few Rhinos into the dirt. So, now you might think it's time to pick up and go Chuck Norris on a few thousand aliens completely alone. Big mistake, as it turns out, and frustrated after getting smashed to a pulp on hive four or five you check to see that the leaderboards show Dirty Gaming has a lone wolf that's seen it all, and been a one-man alien apocalypse in every episode of nightfall more than once. How the hell does Taibhse DO that anyway?

The Loadout aka How to Be a Dirty CommandoClass:In team games of extinction, you'll hear a lot of people start moaning if there isn't at least one medic, one weapon specialist, one mechanic, and (sometimes) a tank. The thinking goes that if there is at least one person filling each role, the team will succeed just so long as everyone communicates and shares the wealth as far as items go. While it's true that someone taking on ten weapon attachments can severely cripple a team, I believe that there is another, better way: the Dirty Gaming way.

Simply put, the Dirty Gaming way is peace through superior firepower. In team games, three weapon specialists and one medic (if the specialists don't know their way around a ballistic vest) or four specialists (if they do). For solo, Weapon Specialistis the only choice you have if you want to survive. Why?

It's simple- it's much harder for aliens to surround and kill you if their heads are rolling down the street, that's why. Weapon specialists have perks like Reflex, Stalker, Quickdraw, and Slight of Hand on their side along with the holy grail that is their top-tier skill of 50% extra damage and tight spread. These are things that all come in really handy when you're surrounded, also known as pretty much all the time.

Pistol:If there is one thing a Dirty Commando is known for it is his accuracy. Accuracy means more damage, more kills, and less expended ammunition. For these reasons, he shuns the use of the Grach or Beretta simply because spraying bullets everywhere is only cool if you're twelve years old OR happen to be an action movie fanatic like Danny Butterman.

Take the.44 Magnum, and don't ask me if I have ever fired two guns in the air while yelling "aaah". Don't make me hurt you.

Ammo:While most pub players swear by Explosive ammunition for its ability to shred crowds with indirect damage, the Dirty Commando favors Armor Piercing because his favorite hobby is shredding Rhinos. Single handedly. Often while yelling many rude implications about it's mother. Also, every alien has some base level of armor somewhere on its body, and the heavily armored aliens (Hunters, Phantoms, Rhinos) with enormous health are harder to drop than their weaker, less armored brethren vulnerable to other ammo types (Grunts, Seekers, Scorpions).

Dirty Commandos hit what they aim at, so if you don't it's time to ditch the crutch and improve your accuracy because thanks to the introduction of Phantoms (heavily armored, high health, teleporting Hunters) Armor Piercing ammunition has never made more sense. For solo, these big problems for a team of four are now YOUR problem, and calling Scout asking him to make the big meanies stop beating the crap out of you doesn't work. Trust me, I've tried, and he'll just laugh at you. Possibly while pointing out that sympathy is between shit and syphilis in the dictionary. Depends on the day.

Team Support:Armor, armor, armor. I cannot stress it enough how important armor is to survival in Extinction, whether it's co-op or solo simply because throwing armor while you're being attacked can literally save you just long enough to get some breathing room and save a down (or inconveniencing the Medic aka Nurse Ratchett, who is busy learning that a submachine gun is about as useful as a water pistol against a Rhino).

Also useful for teammates who love to stand still in the center of the street having their backsides chewed off or camping in corners being straight up massacred. Not because the Dirty Commando cares about his teammates that slow him down, but because an armored chewtoy will attract attention longer and give him a nice group of easy targets. Nurse Ratchett will come revive Mr. I'm-Out-of-Ammo-Again later, your job is just to slow down the inevitable and give ol' Doc some room to work. Preferably filled with piles of corpses.

Strike Package:If it's one thing that the Dirty Commando loves more than his high-damage primary, it's high-damage teammates. In terms of Strikes, this means the Sentry Gun. Manned turrets require standing still, which the Dirty Commando rarely does, and the Vulture has a critical flaw (aside from being the Strike equivalent of a bottle rocket) which is that it doesn't attract hostiles OR soak up damage meant for the Dirty Commando while he's reloading. These beauties also gain Armor Piercing ammo at higher levels, which is fantastic for Rhino-shredding and covering Nurse Ratchett, who has to go revive the Randoms again because they sprayed out all their ammo, wasted that armor you so helpfully laid down, and are on their backs throwing rocks.

The best part about Sentries is that one Dirty Commando can (and must) level them to max and drop two at once. Not only does this make him a force multiplier capable of covering three-quarters of the map in hellfire for a tiny investment of $4000, a Commando knows how to set them to cover the drill (and himself, who is generally patrolling an area never going out of sight of said drill) with intersecting fields of fire so when Mr. Rhino comes-a-knocking, he gets crushed by three streams of Armor Piercing rounds before he can get close enough to charge. The Dirty Commando's entire battle plan revolves around his automated friends, but we'll cover that more later on.

Equalizer:While it's true that there's nothing in the world the Dirty Commando loves more than firepower, there's already one equalizer in this game and it -is- the Dirty Commando. Take the Riot Shield and stick it on your back to give the aliens two dinner options: shield or smoking gun barrel. Joke's on them though, because the Dirty Commando always serves a two course meal.

For Solo, the shield also covers your escape if things get too hot and you need to run and reload. Not only does this allow you to regenerate precious health/build armor back up/throw ammo/reload/curse about your luck/call Scout again about making the bad things stop eating you, it also serves as an early warning system about what is trying to nail you from behind and can also stop seekers from being able to blow your armor off if you see em coming with an empty gun in your hands. Pull it, crouch, smash 'em, and take off while reloading. Call it your Guardian Angel, because it's the closest thing you're gonna get.

So now you're a Weapon Specialist, grabbed your precious .44 Magnum, filled your pack with Armor Piercing ammo and Armor, laid down a couple Sentry Guns and strapped a Riot Shield on your back. Congratulations, you're the Extinction equivalent of NATO. If you want to graduate to becoming a Dirty Commando you've gotta get some Cryptid blood on those shiny new boots, so let's get you started in a co-op match.

At this point, if you're smart you'll have joined Dirty Gaming and be able to call on our squad of Extinction monsters: Pirate, Vex, or Ta1bhse (or all three!) to lend a hand and many, many bullets to the cause. If you're not lucky enough to have any of ours, or know any yourself, it's time to Tallahassee: nut up or shut up. Let's get going.

Getting Started:The room is full of strangers, probably at least one squeaker, and at least one brand new player: the Dirty Commando recruit is officially behind the 8-Ball right? Wrong. However, noticing this right off the bat is going to dictate the way the Dirty Commando handles his odds, and will ultimately help you develop a sure-fire Solo skillset since essentially you'll be playing alone with much more resistance than normal and teammates stealing all the items and handicapping your ability to fight. Hang on to your boots recruit, this is going to be a rough ride but it CAN be done.

First off, ignore anyone demanding you change ANY ASPECT OF YOUR LOADOUT. There is zero reason, and I mean zero, to have four specialists that have all different equipment because if one person goes down it cripples the whole team's ability to keep fighting. Furthermore, the Dirty Commando's loadout ties into itself to make the Commando as strong as he can possibly be in one-on-fifty gunfights, so if it offends someone's sense of order to have two people with Armor in case someone gets dropped, let them change to Feral glowy-vision or speed boosters that won't do the leveled Dirty Commando any good anyway because he'll already have a permanent boost from his specialization. If they insist on arguing, I have given you many points as to why this way is a smart way to go; if they won't yield, find a new room.

Now that you've gotten started, understand this is just a general guide right now. I will eventually upload videos walking you through advanced strategies for co-op and solo for all the Extinction maps, but right now we're talking shop so to speak. If your shop is selling ass kickings to large-mandibled killing machines like mine, anyway. Or cookies. Don't judge me, everyone loves cookies. Including your mom.

Loadout leveling:Understand that the key to leveling to your maximum potential is the Challenges that come with each hive. Without them, especially the early ones, your whole group's chances of survival go steeply downhill. A Dirty Commando understands this better than anyone, and isn't bashful about letting everyone know he's serious about getting them done and will definitely let anyone who is actively screwing the team know what he thinks about it. Your objective here isn't to troll, or engage a squeaker in a shouting match, but to assert that spraying a Grach during an accuracy challenge is Totally Unacceptable. If your teammates insist on using this inferior pistol instead of knifing while you expertly backpedal-and-headshot/get-bit-then-execute aliens to ace the challenge, consider leaving the game and finding a new group. If they cause the team to fail more than one, however, leaving quickly heads toward the mandatory end of the scale unless you want to test your ability to deal with a hopeless proposition. Or just grab experience/teeth. Whatever.

Your first priority is definitely getting to Weapon Specialist Tier 3- Faster Reloading. This is because in the beginning you're facing low-threat enemies that you can take down yourself without help from your sentry friends, and also you're strapped for cash so they're not a viable option anyway. Fast Reload makes the magnum a very good option for taking on crowds, making it so reloading is simply a few steps backwards versus ten or twenty before you can re-engage. Like Martha Stewart always says, this is a Good Thing.

Second priority is Sentry Gun, because more accurate bullets is better than fewer. If you're not nailing all the Challenges, bare minimum before the first section of hives in each map is definitely Tier 1- Improved Targeting so your gun can engage targets at long distances and either kill them outright or weaken them substantially so you can administer the coup de grace with your .44. If you have your fast reloads, get this one to at least Tier 3- Armor Piercing ammo because Tier 3 also gives your guns more available ammunition to cut down aliens and Rhinos before burning out, which it will do fairly frequently once it hits Tier 2- High rate of fire.

At this point, it's a coin flip as to whether to take Weapon Specialist or Sentry Gun to Tier 4, but I prefer to go with Sentry Gun because the Dirty Commando's favorite weapons need reloaded frequently and often and two damage-dealing alien magnets buy more time and a bigger safe zone behind them than just one.

Priority three is Tier 1 Riot Shield to buy some more free hits on your back before you start taking damage and fewer purchases of said shield to save cash. More points aren't really necessary but if you have extra points at the end by all means level it up more. Don't skip this one, it might just save your life!

Priority four is definitely Armor. If you're short on points, skip the shield and throw whatever you can in here to fill your armor bar as quickly as possible because Armor buys time for the Four R's: Reviving, Reloading, Running and Repairing. Armor Piercing Ammo is a hair below this, so consider them equal on the list. Why are these two items so low priority? Weapon Specialist and Sentry Guns kill Rhinos, Hunters, Scorpions, Seeders (Mayday only) and Phantoms which are all worth a large amount of money. Therefore, since money isn't a problem because you'll be slaughtering tons of these high-value pests, you can just buy a few basic armor and ammo packs to fill up. No big deal.

The pistol is a VERY controversial point. In my loadout, I don't level it at all because it's very rare that I end up needing it and carrying multiple primaries just means there's more fumbling through a list of weapons for the one you need and also an extra weapon to have to reload/find attachments for so I just don't see a reason to bother. However, if you happen to be using a relic that doesn't allow weapon purchases or a class selection, max this stat second after Sentry Gun because those will be your primary firearms.

Weapons:The Dirty Commando loves guns, but not just any gun will do. Since reload speed doesn't mean much to the Commando, he prefers to stick with LMG's/Shotguns for their ability to deal incredible close-range damage to crush tanks, protect the Nurse Ratchett in the team, and shred hordes closing in on the drill so teammates can repair it. Listen up recruits, because I'm only going over this once.

Shotguns are available in the first stage in all three Extinction maps, and that's because Someone Loves You. Being a Weapon Specialist allows you to take full advantage of these slow-reloading sledgehammers and take them from awkward and often-neglected battlefield decorations to wrathful hammers of Dirty Commando vengeance. However, in the case of all things Shotguns are not all created equal. From best to worst:

MTS-255 > FP6 > Bulldog

MTS-255- Take the FP6's power to stop most Cryptids in one shot at point blank range and give it the cyclic rate of the Bulldog, the resulting lovechild is this beauty. While it's only available at the end of Point of Contact and I haven't even seen it in Mayday, it is sitting in the first section of Nightfall and is very capable of destroying the Breeder with Armor Piercing rounds with more than enough time to spare to collect the Challenge. All the perks of the other two guns, all in one. Definitely worth picking up, and if you find it in a Weapon Locker or a Muzzle Brake for it, consider this a mandatory pick up.

FP6- The FP6 is simple, but don't be lured away from it by the big magazines/fast cyclic rate/fancy add ons other starting weapons in Point of Contact and Mayday offer. This shotgun is a workhorse and can make every round count to its maximum potential, especially when paired with the Holy Trinity of attachments we'll go over later. A definite candidate for The One Weapon for Solo in Point of Contact, but its lack of range makes it less viable for the later areas of Mayday.

Bulldog- The bottom of the pack is the Bulldog, simply because it lacks the punch of the other two shotguns and tends to lend itself to the sort of spray-and-pray nonsense the Dirty Commando shuns. However, if you find yourself in need of some get-off-of-me firepower RIGHT NOW it's still a contender. Just budget for lots of ammo refills with this one.